Credit Card Questiongreenspun.com : LUSENET : TimeBomb 2000 (Y2000) : One Thread |
I was talking with my friend Sean who owns the two companies I have mentioned before. Well he was in a miserable mood today because he had gotten into an argument with a customer over Y2K and credit cards. The guy had a card that expired in 01 and:He:"Oh, I bet you can't take this" Sean:"Yes we can" He:"Well I heard no one can take cards past 00 yet. I don't know why my company even issued this" Sean:"Well if you will hand it over I will run it through and we will just see." So Sean slid it through, the guy's card cleared and he thought that was the end of the story. Well the guy kept going on and on about he was going to have trouble all these other places and on and on and on...etc. Well he just finallys topped arguing with the guy and got back to work.
So then he goes into CompuServe's Year 2000 forum where he has also been discussing credit cards and telling people about his experiances with them. So this one guy starts a new thread and he adds in how he has had no problems, his processor is ok, his machines are fine and so on. Well the guy just snips back at his real life experiances with this situation by saying "Well I have heard numerous and credible stories otherwise" Sean just kind of dropped it saying he had told his experiances already and basically whatever.
So here is my question...I have a card that expires in 01, not one problem anywhere. I have done quite a bit of mail order with it (mostly supplies for Y2K even), stuff from Amazon.com, a little over seas business and so on. Not one problem anywhere. Now I know this WAS a problem awhile back, but is anyone still hearing these stories? Has anyone actually had it happen to them?
Thanks Rick
-- Rick Tansun (ricktansun@hotmail.com), October 30, 1998
Yes. But not recently.It was a problem. It no longer is a widespread problem.
The first post 2000 card I got was refused several times. [I had no outstanding balance, was making only minor purchases.] But, after about 2 months this stopped happening. This was about the same time that most companies were reporting that they had fixed the problem.
rocky
-- rocky (rknolls@hotmail.com), October 31, 1998.
Well as I understand it, credit cards were a problem two, three years ago, but have been taken care of. Actually the credit card companies are lucky because they got their wake-up call on Y2K back then, and won't have to try to fix this problem in 1999 when everybody else will be trying to play catch-up at the same time.Actually, more than one person I know has told me this is why they think Y2K isn't going to be a big deal. They know this was a problem for the credit card companies, and that now it isn't. These people think that all businesses fixed their Y2K problems the same time the credit card companies did.....
-- Kevin (mixesmusic@worldnet.att.net), October 31, 1998.
I got a renewal VISA card earlier this year. I noticed that the number was different than it had been on the old card. I called VISA to find out if this was right, and they said that they were issuing new numbers to existing accounts as part of their year 2000 fix. The card expires in 2000, and I have had no trouble with it. Some companies DO have their stuff fixed. :-)
-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), October 31, 1998.
As I understand it, this is a multifaceted issue. Point-of-sale terminals are almost entirely upgraded to handle expiration dates of 00 and 01. This is a separate programming issue from POS terminals being able to handle charges actually made in 00, which is separate again from the credit card companies being able to handle charges incurred in 99 and due in 00, or charges incurred in 00. Which is again different from the issuing banks being able to handle transactions with dates of 00 between them and the credit card issuers.All the above concerns changes. Different systems in turn handle such things as billings, late fees, interest rate changes and calculations, transfers between cards, and a host of other things. The trigger dates for all events *other than* the POS terminals handling of card expiration dates, has not yet arrived. Stay tuned...
-- Flint (flintc@mindspring.com), October 31, 1998.
Are we talking POS "terminals" or POS "systems" here? There is a substantial difference between an electronic draft capture credit card processing terminal used by a small business and POS systems used by large multi-location chains.Anyone want to wade into these waters?
-- PNG (png@gol.com), October 31, 1998.
Flint:Good point. Let's hope they were smart enough to fix the whole chain instead of just a couple links. It seems to me I heard somewhere (maybe here?) that MC and VISA set up some requirements re: Y2K for banks processing charges a couple years ago. Not sure what this included, but it was probably a wake-up call for some of those banks.
-- Mike (gartner@execpc.com), October 31, 1998.
All those "links" in the chains you reference are why those who say "Set the calender back" are playing ostrich - burying their heads in the sand, leaving there rear ends exposed.
-- Robert A. Cook, P.E. (Kennesaw, GA) (cook.r@csaatl.com), November 01, 1998.
My ex-husband manages a 7-11 type store in New England, and he told me that in May of this year they converted his gas pumps to "Pay-at- Pump". No problems until the first guy with a credit card with a '00' expiration tried using it. Locked up the pumps AND the cash registers; Ex had to shut all down & restart the system. After the 5th time it happened, says Ex, he finally realized that it was the post-2000 expiration dates that was causing the problem, so they taped over the Pay-at-Pump option signs and waited until the vendor could come & make the programming changes. No problems since. Best part: Ex said he realized I must be right about Y2K. I got to say "I told you so!" and I enjoyed it!!!Anyway, that's fairly recent, and it was a new install of the system.
-- Arewyn (nordic@northnet.net), November 02, 1998.
I would like to hear from anyone with an AMERICAN EXPRESS CARD that has an expiry date beyond 1/1/2000 that has successfully used it to charge. This was the last of the credit card problems as of this spring. Anyone????????
-- (mass@delusions.com), November 02, 1998.
A few weeks back, I was at a store and tried to use my MC which has a 01 expiry year. The Point of sale terminal rejected my card after repeated attempts. Another customer in line with a older card had no problem.Later that day I my bank confirmed that there was no problem with my card and that some vendors are not yet set up to handle the 01 dates.
-- T. Benson (harvesth@telusplanet.net), November 02, 1998.
If the power grid goes down, I think you will be facing bigger problems than the expiration date of your credit cards . No Power = No terminals working etc.,etc.,etc.
-- Steve Sykes (pbjb@hotmail.com), November 07, 1998.
My Bank One year 2000 credit card has crashed twice in the past month. Last week it took almost an hour to get it straightened out. There are a few merchants out there not ready yet.I was interesting watching the salespeople squirm.
-- Anti-chainsaw (Tree@hugger.com), November 07, 1998.